How much longer must the reappearance of Jonny Wilkinson feature above everything else in a Newcastle match? For quite a long time, it seems. The reception for the much troubled fly-half on his fifth comeback raised more decibels than any other event though the Falcons fans had been given much else to applaud, including five tries and a rare home win.

Wilkinson, wearing No22, appeared in the 55th minute, but young Toby Flood, the England Under-21 fly-half, had been playing so well that he slotted in at centre and continued the good work while Wilkinson did little more than make a series of passes - and, of course, throw himself into rucks with his customary intensity.

One of those passes led directly to a try, Matt Burke's second. In truth, the full-back needed to do little more against a defence that had allowed him a couple of yards of space, weaving his way to the posts from 20 yards out. The conversion was a formality for the master goalkicker, though he subsequently failed with one from wide out. A quiet return, then.

Sale's team sheet had a very unfamiliar look, with missing names amounting to at least half a side and including Charlie Hodgson, Jason Robinson, Mark Cueto, Sébastien Chabal and Chris Jones. In their place were a mixture of recent French and Welsh signings. A rotation policy may have been the genuine reason, but taking the chance to rest so many players (the absentees weren't even on the bench) says something about Sale's interest in this new competition.

In the new arrangement, Steve Hanley, a former England winger, found himself at full-back, and his defensive qualities were soon put to the test.

The starting point for some electric movement of the ball by Newcastle was a plunge forward by Colin Charvis from a tapped penalty. Quick release saw Flood, the Falcons' No3 fly-half, throw a long pass to Burke, who was in the line, as usual, at outside centre, and an equally early pass from him to the wing gave the young Mathew Tait the chance to exploit some space. He skinned Hanley on the outside and if it was a comprehensive destruction of the debutant at No15 Hanley can be consoled by the fact that he is not the first to be left floundering by Tait.

The conversion from the left touchline was delivered by Flood, who continued to offer some nice touches in open play, though most of the goal-kicks were to be taken by Burke.

Newcastle spurned a couple of kickable penalties to press for a try from close-range lineouts. They were denied by inches a couple of times before a forward-centred effort saw their scrum-half Hall Charlton spinning over. It was a rare try for a side whose recent failings have been heavily underlined by the inability of their forwards to capitalise on close-range scoring opportunities.

In a game that became increasingly open Newcastle could have gone further ahead had Burke found the mark with an outside pass to players free on the right touchline. As it was, Daniel Larrachea pulled the home side back with three penalties, the shorter of them smacked with considerable force and the longest a powerful effort from 45 metres and near touch. The man from Bayonne, a full-back at heart, would have pleased his coach, Philippe Saint-André, with his enterprise and anticipation at fly-half, though a penalty from Burke extended Newcastle's advantage to 17-9 at half-time.

Newcastle's renewed confidence up front showed soon after the interval as they laid siege to the Sale line, and was greatly assisted by the sin-binning, within four minutes, of two of Sale's back-row forwards as they desperately tried to stem the flow of possession in dangerous proximity to the line.

Newcastle should really have pushed back their six opponents in the next scrum but, after it was reset, they moved the ball right instead. Such was Sale's focus on the scrum, and its fringes, that a two-against-two was exploited by Burke as he twisted his way to the line.

Tait very nearly got there too, as Newcastle's domination continued. He has gained a little in strength and has plenty of determination, but needs a little more bulk to succeed in these situations. Still, he won the man-of-the-match award. How disloyal can you be?